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Design Classics: Kjaerholm chaise

Seldom has the choice been so stark between the official version of a furniture classic and bootleg copies. To buy Danish designer Poul Kjaerholm’s exquisite 1965 recliner, known as the PK24, as made by Fritz Hansen, you must find about £6,000; copies can be had for about £900.

Fritz Hansen’s quality is exemplary; I can’t vouch for the others. It’s worth getting right: the wicker and stainless-steel recliner with its counterweighted leather headrest is an insect- delicate piece of furniture, a tour de force of lightweight engineering. It is warmer and more organic than its techno-fetishistic US or German equivalents.

So, authorised version or rip-off? For durability and investment value, it has to be the real thing. If you just want the look for now, a copy might suffice.